Imphal: BJP’s Nongthombam Biren Singh, who on Wednesday took oath as the Chief Minister of Manipur, won the floor test on Monday with the support of 32 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly.
Yumnam Khemchand Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was elected as the Speaker of Manipur Assembly ahead of the floor test.
The Congress had emerged as the largest party in the state winning 28 seats, but the party fell short of majority.
BJP had won 21 seats and made a bid for power claiming it has the support of 33 legislators in Assembly. Biren Singh was sworn in as the chief minister after Governor Najma Heptulla invited the BJP to form government in the state.
On Wednesday, eight other ministers from the BJP and its alliance partners also took oath along with the chief minister. Y Joykumar of NPP has been designated as the Deputy Chief Minister.
A national level football player-turned-journalist, Biren Singh was a key member of the Congress party when he decided to join BJP in October 2016, after falling out with then-CM Okram Ibobi Singh. Singh started his political journey with a regional Democratic Revolutionary People’s Party in 2002.
Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla on Tuesday invited Singh, who was unanimously elected the leader of the 21-member BJP legislature party on Monday, to form the government.
(Agencies)
